Contactless 

Please don’t  

Speak to me 

The young cashier snapped 

Risk of saliva contact 

Stunned 

I carried on 

Filling bags faster, 

No longer in order of heaviest items first, bread, crisps, biscuits last. 

Please don’t stand on that side of the trolley when packing your bags 

the supervisor pleaded 

Risk of 

contact with people 

passing 

I smiled at the cashier; 

her face etched in fear as she glanced at my hand hovering over the card machine. 

I made my contactless payment, musing as I left at how 

suddenly life became 

a contactless transaction into solitary confinement with no sell-by date. 

Michelle Foulia 

December 2020